WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The Comcast Story: Part Two 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.120 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:16.920 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:21.320 and how the Tech Area. It's time for a classic episode. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.280 Last week we had the Comcast Story Part one as 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.160 our classic episode. So guess what this week it's the 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:32.479 Comcast Story Part two. Who to thunk it? This episode 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.600 originally published on November eleven, two thousand fifteen. As I 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.960 said last week, I'm pretty sure we're due for a 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.000 part three. I'm gonna have to get to work on 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.080 that and um and pair it with these previous episodes 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.960 so that we can, you know, have a fuller picture. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.400 In fact, by the time you hear this this uh, 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.040 this classic episode, maybe I will have already done that 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.480 because I record the classics in batches, and I think 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.480 I'm about four months ahead now, so maybe by the 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.800 time this classic publishes, I will have already done part three. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.720 It's like time travel, but more boring. Anyway, let's sit 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.480 back and listen to the Comcast Story Part two. We 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:19.080 talked about the founding and the rise of of Brian Roberts, 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.720 the son of founder Ralph J. Roberts. I thought i'd 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.520 pick up specifically right there. This is going back to 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.480 n that's when Ralph J. Roberts named his son, Brian Roberts, 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.920 the president of Comcast. Not the time, Brian was just 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.800 thirty years old, and the announcement caused a bit of 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.640 a stir because here's this young guy taking over the 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.679 role of president of a major cable company that had 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:50.320 been making some pretty pretty hefty moves in the industry. Now, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.240 Ralph J. Roberts said he would stay on as the 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.760 chairman of the company. And while thirty is pretty darn 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.280 young to be the president of a rapidly growing company, 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.360 Brian had actually been working for Comcast in one way 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.200 or another since before he was ten years old. According 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.680 to some reports, he was seven when he started working, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.600 which meant they had twenty three years of experience working 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.639 for Comcast. I do question exactly what he was doing 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.880 at seven years old, but that's the story, at least 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.560 in certain Comcast literature. But that would mean that he 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.079 was actually one of the more senior employees of Comcast. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.040 He had worked there longer than a lot of other 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.040 people there, so at least from a seniority standpoint, it 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.400 wasn't that unusual, although some might argue that it was 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.000 a little weird for a father to name his son 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.680 the president of the company he founded. At any rate, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.320 Brian Roberts definitely dedicated himself to the success of the company, 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.760 there was no question about that. Around that time, operations 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.520 were continuing to grow in Britain. If you listen to 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.080 the last episode, you know that one of the things 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.600 Comcast looked at in the eighties was to expand in 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.440 in the UK because it was starting to get really 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.359 difficult to grow in the United States. They were starting 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:07.120 to reach full penetration of cable service and the few 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.200 cable companies that were left were really expensive and limited 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:15.320 in their range, so they looked elsewhere. Well By, they 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.079 had one million customers in the United Kingdom, and Comcast 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.839 made additional purchases in the cell phone space as well 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.280 here in the United States in order to grow its business, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.519 as m Cell was not growing as quickly as the 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.920 company had hoped. If you remember, m Cell was the 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.040 cable the cell phone service company they purchased in an 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.840 effort to get into a new field. But am Cell 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.120 kind of suffering the same issues that the cable service 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.400 industry was suffering and that people weren't necessarily flocking to 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.640 M cell to become customers. So instead of trying to 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:56.680 push that business out harder, Comcast looked at acquiring additional 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.160 cell phone service companies to bolster its customer base US 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.440 that way, so if growth isn't there, you should just 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:10.760 go out and buy it, I guess. In the headquarters 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.840 for a Comcast, which were located at one Meridian Plaza 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:20.479 in Philadelphia, caught fire. The building was totally destroyed. The 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:25.720 fire took nineteen hours to extinguish, so Comcast as actually 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.520 the corporate headquarters was shut down for about eight days 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.040 until they set up a temporary headquarters four blocks away 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:38.560 from their original burnt out home. Also in Comcast held 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.960 a bit of a marketing stunt. They completed a five 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.440 way international phone call to demonstrate you don't need a 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.360 telephone company to make a call, even a complicated one, 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.040 and that really prompted telephone companies to argue that they 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.719 should be allowed to enter the cable television business, since 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:01.240 the cable television business was now dominating in the phone business, 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:06.200 at least in cell phone coverage. Also in Comcast, bought 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.760 interest in Store Communications, the company that had previously sold 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.719 as Florida Operations to several years earlier. You remember I 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:19.159 mentioned that in the previous episode, and Comcast became the 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.159 third largest cable operator in the United States after it 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.839 acquired the US cable operations of McLean Hunter. The company 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.119 also launched a new public company in the UK called 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:37.279 Comcast UK Cable Partners and Comcast made golfers extremely happy 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.679 when they partnered with a few other companies and became 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.719 a founding investor of the Golf Channel, which, as I recall, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.880 was one of the earliest channels to offer high definition programming. 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.920 That was a little bit later, but thank goodness you 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:58.360 could watch golf and high definition. I find golf very 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.280 relaxing to watch. I that's the best thing I can 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.839 say about it. I guess I certainly takes skill to play, 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.640 and I lack it at any rate. That year, Comcast 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:13.360 also entered a partnership with Sprint UH Telecommunications Incorporated and 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:18.240 Cox Communications, and together they formed the Sprint Telecommunications Venture, 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.359 which was later called Sprint Spectrum LP and later still 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:27.120 was called Sprint PCs. So once again, Comcast continues to 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:32.800 try and diversify, expanding into cellular service and wireless service. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.600 Comcast itself would continue to grow mainly through acquisitions. As 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.040 we've seen in our previous episode, the company would buy 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:45.240 up other cable operators and mostly expand that way, eliminating 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.800 competition along the way, which certainly helped and in Comcast 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.120 had more than four point three million customers, mainly through 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.599 this tactic of buying up existing companies and converting them 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:02.080 into Comcast, so customers found themselves becoming Comcast customers just 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:09.200 through these acquisitions. Comcast bought a sixty three percent share 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.920 of the Philadelphia Flyers from a company called Spectacre, which 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:18.920 was created by Flyers founder Ed Snyder. Comcast had created 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.960 a new company with this partnership, and it's now called 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.720 Comcast Spectacre. The company not only owns and manages the Flyers, 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.920 but also the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and the 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.840 company has divisions overseeing the venue, ticketing and concessions. This 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.920 is not the only sporting franchise that Comcast owns. There 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.280 are others in the Philadelphia area as well, which makes sense. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.280 I mean, that's again where Comcast headquarters are, That's where 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.920 a couple of the co founders of Comcast grew up 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.320 and uh they are still very much heavily involved in 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:58.760 the sports area of Philadelphia. Comcast also announced it would 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:03.320 create a new channel in Philadelphia just called Comcast sports Net, 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:09.080 specifically a regional sports channel for the Philadelphia area. And finally, 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:14.120 in nineteen Comcast got into the broadband business. The company 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.120 launched a service called Comcast at Home, with the AT 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.880 being the AT symbol, and they launched it in Baltimore, Maryland, 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:26.120 and Sarasota, Florida, kind of as a sort of prototype. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.240 They're they're testing grounds. They wanted to see if this 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.280 business would have any legs, and the trial run offered 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.880 a cable modem service to customers and as it turned out, 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.880 and ended up being a fruitful business, which Comcast quickly 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.800 began to adopt and roll out in other areas. In 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.200 nineteen seven, another major company took interest in Comcast, and 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:54.240 that major company is Microsoft. So Bill Gates's company invested 0:08:54.360 --> 0:09:00.880 one billion dollars in Comcast in ninete. The purpose of 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.120 that investment was to help Comcast deploy high speed data 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.040 and video services through its infrastructure. So Comcast was starting 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.840 to look at ways of creating a fiber optic coaxial 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.640 sort of system, replacing lots of copper lines with fiber 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.880 optic lines to deliver much faster service. And it was 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.520 through this investment that Comcast was able to afford that 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:27.960 infrastructure without affecting its operating funds too much. And in 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.319 this way, this was a step to move towards the 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.439 world we live in now, in which people in the 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.120 United States can get high speed Internet streaming to different 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.400 devices in the home and not just PCs. In fact, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.440 in the press release that Microsoft VP of Corporate Development, 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:47.640 Greg Maffei had taken part in, MAFE had said, like Comcast, 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:52.600 Microsoft has always believed that increasing network bandwidth is a 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.679 key to the eventual convergence of the Internet, the PC, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:01.720 and the television. So even then there was a look 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:07.080 at we're using these pipes in the parlance of the web. 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.720 We're using these pipes to deliver TV and to deliver broadband. Broadband, 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.480 by the way, is being delivered over Why of those 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.760 six mega hurts channels that I talked about in the 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.800 first episode that cable can you cable can hold hundreds 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:24.160 of mega hurts, So broadband internet connection is just six 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.960 mega hurts of a cable that's plenty of space available 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:32.199 for that. We'll be back with more about Comcast and 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:46.439 its history after this quick break. So Microsoft was saying, 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.920 we've got this delivery system that's doing both television and Internet. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.120 It's only a matter of time before we start to 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:58.760 see these different technologies start to converge into a single technology. 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.320 And as it turns out, that's very much true. It 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.000 took a little bit longer than what they were expecting, 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.319 I imagine, but that's what we're seeing now. A lot 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.640 of people either have smart televisions or they have their 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.360 TVs hooked up to one or more set top devices 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.640 that allows them to view Internet content on their televisions. 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.160 And there are some who argue that eventually that will 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.040 be the primary and perhaps only way that will get 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.720 content on our TVs. That we won't receive programming from 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:34.600 a cable service directly. It will be through an Internet service. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.640 And that's quite possible. Well more and more people are 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.360 opting for that, as we'll say later in the episode. 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.360 At any rate, by this time, cable television wasn't even 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:50.200 the largest division within Comcast. Cable tv was taking a 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.440 back seat. Uh, So Comcast had interest in content and 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.439 cellular services, and there were growing concerns that the company 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.160 in charge of delivering content was also in the business 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.920 of creating content, and those concerns would grow over the 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.920 following years. This is where you started seeing people make 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:13.959 noise about net neutrality. How can a delivery system remain 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.800 unbiased when it also was creating content being delivered on 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:24.559 that system. In other words, if you are a company 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.880 that creates content and you're also a company that allows 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.760 content to be delivered to customers, how can anyone be 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.360 certain that you don't give your own content preferential treatment. 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.560 Maybe you slow down other types of content across your network, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.880 maybe you don't allow it to even broadcast on your network. 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.640 Maybe you tell your customers, hey, the stuff we have 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.560 is the best stuff out there. You don't need anything else. 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:55.560 These were big concerns, and while Comcast was largely playing nice, uh, 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.559 it was a it was a worry that perhaps in 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.199 the future that would not be the case. And so 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.040 we really started getting into the conversations about net neutrality 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.640 around this time. I mean they had been around before that, 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.920 but this is when it really started to take more 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.280 of a spotlight, and that would increase over the years. 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.280 Skipping ahead to two thousand one, Comcast bought the Outdoor 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:23.040 Life Network and expanded its investment in the Golf Channel, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.680 which ended up giving Comcast controlling interest in that network. 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.360 And it also announced it would purchase a T and 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.959 T Broadband for a cool seventy two billion dollars. At 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.040 that time, a T and T Broadband was the largest 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:40.520 cable TV provider in the United States. So Comcast both 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:45.640 eliminates some competition and grows its own cable television services 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:51.720 by buying another service. Uh, which no big surprise again 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.800 if you're looking back along the history of Comcast, that 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:59.880 was the tactic from day one. Really. In two thousand two, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:06.400 Comcast unveiled plans for HD television and video on demand services. Again, 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.800 the Golf Channel was one of those early HD channels. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.280 As I recall, this was, you know, one of those 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.160 things where the United States was definitely trailing behind Japan 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.560 by several years. But HD television's back in the early 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.920 two thousand's were really expensive. I don't know if you 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:24.880 guys remember, because these days, you know, you can go 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:29.520 out and buy an HD television for a relatively low cost. Still, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.200 several hundred dollars. But you know, when you start looking 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.760 at things like four K televisions, they are relatively inexpensive. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.480 HD ones, that is, HD are relatively inexpensive compared to 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:45.400 four K, but just like four K. Now, back then, 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.480 there were very few channels that actually offered up h 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.880 D content. So you can get an HD television, but 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.000 there wasn't much to watch on it at the time. 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.840 The Golf Channel was one of those things, so if 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.160 you really like golf, you can get a really good 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.400 look at it. Uh. Also, Brian Roberts assumed the role 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.680 of CEO of the company, becoming president and CEO in 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.000 two thousand two. Not long after that, he would actually 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.200 also assume the role of chairman, so became president, CEO 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.160 and chairman of Comcast. Again, keep in mind this is 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.080 the son of the founder, Ralph J. Roberts. In two 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:26.640 thousand four, Comcast made an unsuccessful bid for a hostile 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:31.520 takeover for the Walt Disney Company. Now that might sound 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.280 pretty weird, because today Disney is bigger than ever. Disney 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:40.440 owns so much. Disney bought Marvel, Disney bought the Star 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.080 Wars franchise. The movies are doing really well, But in 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.480 the early two thousand's, Disney was in turmoil. There were 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:53.200 leadership issues. People were disenchanted with Michael Eisner as the 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.040 chairman of Walt Disney. The company itself was not doing 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.680 as well in the market as it had been previously. 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.440 Some people were beginning to feel that Disney itself had 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:07.400 the company had lost its way, and people like Roy Disney, 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.800 who had been on the board of directors, seemed to 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:16.120 be in dismay at the state of the company. So 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:20.200 the bid was somewhere in the fifty four billion dollar range, 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.200 and it was based on stock price. It was going 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.120 to be a stock exchange deal if this were to 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.960 actually go through. But it was a hostile takeover. And 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.520 what does that mean. Well, originally Comcast was sending messages 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.320 to Disney chairman Michael Eisner, but Eisener refused to discuss 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.120 a deal. Then Comcast went over Eisner's head and sent 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.160 a letter of intent directly to the board of directors saying, 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.520 we want to purchase your company. Here the here's the 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.960 deal where we want to do it in stock. The 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.080 stock is currently valued at fifty four billion dollars. Now 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.960 Disney itself was being valued somewhere in the sixty six 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.640 billion dollar range. H but again, it was kind of 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.600 struggling at the time. So comcast hope was that the 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.520 Board of directors would come and talk to Comcast and 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.920 they would be able to work this out, and that 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.399 uh you know, maybe the word board of directors thought 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.600 this would be the best approach in order to make 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.480 money for shareholders for Disney shareholders, and the attempt was 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.760 huge news because the number of properties that would have 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.000 been involved were significant. Disney at that time was already 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.560 the parent company of ESPN and ABC, so those would 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.840 fall under the role of Comcast. Then Comcast the delivery 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.560 system would also be in control of ABC and ESPN, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.280 and people were worried that this would mean Comcast would 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.880 be able to leverage that over other providers. So let's 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.520 say Time Warner Cable and it comes up and Comcast says, hey, 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.560 I own ESPN, and if you want ESPN to run 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.040 on your cable networks to your cable customers, you're gonna 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:03.800 have to pay X amount to have access to that content. Uh, 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.440 you know, it would have been a very powerful leveraging tool, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.480 but there was no need to worry about that. The 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.399 deal actually fell through when shareholders for both Disney and 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:18.080 Comcast were resisting the move for different reasons. Comcast stock 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:22.120 price fell eleven percent over the time from when they 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.359 announced the bid to the time when they decided to 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.439 walk away. Now, because the stock price fell eleven percent, 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:36.040 and because their bid was about an exchange of stock, 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.640 the value of the stock they were bidding fell, I mean, 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:43.919 it wasn't as valuable as it used to be. This 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.400 would be as if I went up to you and said, hey, 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.639 I want to buy your shoes for ten bucks, and 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.000 you say, well, I'll think about it, and the next 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:53.880 day I come up to you with a ten dollar bill. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.960 But in that time, the value of ten dollars has decreased, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.320 meaning the buying power of that ten dollars is less. 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.399 It's similar, except now we're talking about actual stock, not 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.960 the value of currency. But the point being that what 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.400 used to be worth fifty four billion dollars was now 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:15.720 worth less than that, So that made it a much 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:19.400 less attractive deal for the Disney board of directors. Meanwhile, 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.840 the board of the board of Directors are also getting 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.600 the message from their shareholders, we don't want you to 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.680 sell this company to Comcast, and since both parties were 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.359 receiving this kind of resistance, Comcast announced it would drop 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.960 the bid just a few months after it had first 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:40.040 announced its intention and uh and Roberts had said he 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.760 was very disappointed in the Disney board of directors for 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.320 not coming in and communicating with him. He thought that 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.639 it was the best deal for both companies. Meanwhile, the 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:55.560 board of directors didn't uh didn't really dignify that particular 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:01.199 statement with a response. Also into the and for Comcast 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:06.840 purchased a little company called tech TV and who boy, 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:11.879 is this a heck of a story. So Comcast carried 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.199 a company a channel called G four, which catered to 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.960 video game fans. It was mostly content related to video 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:25.000 games in some way, including things like review shows, shows 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:29.000 that just did clips of video games, uh, game shows 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.200 that were video game related, lots of stuff like that. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.600 Tech TV, on the other hand, was a more general 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:39.480 technology based channel where they had everything from product reviews 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.320 to h question and answer like people could call in 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.920 and ask experts how to do certain things with their computers, 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.720 like how to install motherboards, that kind of stuff like 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:54.080 actual technical help UM, as well as shows that were 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.040 things like like they had their own video game review shows, 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:02.000 so there were there were competing shows on the two channels. 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.119 So Comcast purchases tech TV in two thousand four and 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.200 then merges it with G four, creating the G four 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.120 Tech TV channel, and then kind of letting the two 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.720 slates of of programming battle it out to see which 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.359 ones would remain and which ones they would get rid of. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.280 And I've got a lot of friends who worked either 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.879 for G four or tech TV, and I hope to 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:31.040 do an episode in the future. I've already recorded some 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.600 interviews about this. Actually, I hope to do an episode 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.520 in the future about tech TV and G four and 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.640 the merging of the two, and to include interview segments 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:45.000 that I have gathered over time. So that's something I 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:46.800 want to do in the future, and it will definitely 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.399 be a long episode, probably a multi partner because it 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:54.960 was so complicated. It was a venture that people when 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:57.399 when these channels first started, they were really excited about 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.359 them because this was these were industry is that were 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.280 all getting more and more important. Over time. People were 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.679 getting more interested in technology and computers and video games. 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.840 But when you get these big corporations like Comcast involved, 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.159 sometimes the ideas that people had when they first founded 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:20.440 the channel end up getting changed or lost or or discarded, 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.679 and uh, it creates a very emotional kind of story. 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:28.640 So keep in tune with tech stuff. Let me know 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.080 if that sounds interesting to you, because I do hope 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:32.800 to do it in the future. I still have to 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:35.439 do several more interviews in order to get kind of 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.399 a full story of it. We're about to wrap up 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.840 the Comcast story as of two thousand and fifteen at 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.600 any rate, but first we need to take another quick 0:22:44.680 --> 0:23:00.160 break moving on with Comcast. By the way, GIF tech 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:02.800 TV doesn't exist anymore. In case you were wondering if 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.240 if you weren't aware, G four tech TV eventually went 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:09.919 away and I believe became the Spike Network. If I'm 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:12.679 not mistaken, or it's no, it's Esquire, I'm sorry, it's 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.320 the Esquare network. I believe um Esquire would eventually take 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:20.480 over for G four tech TV, and so that channel 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:24.480 no longer exists and a lot of good people worked 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:28.959 for that channel over time. Anyway, two thousand five, Comcast 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:33.160 joins a group of investors, which included Sony Corporation of America, 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:37.880 to purchase a twenty steak in Metro Goldwyn Meyer better 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:42.560 known as MGM Studios, so the entertainment studios that produced 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:46.960 lots of movies, including the James Bond franchise. It turned 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:50.480 out to be a pretty tough investment, so five years later, 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:55.600 in two thousand ten, MGM would file for Chapter eleven 0:23:55.640 --> 0:24:00.800 bankruptcy and they would emerge from bankruptcy after a little 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:04.639 more than a month after entering bankruptcy with the creditors 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:08.359 MGMs creditors taking control of the company. So that was 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:10.360 a pretty rough time. I mean, it was an investment, 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:16.399 it was a gamble, and unfortunately for the investors, the 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:19.439 market for DVDs was really falling out by that point 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.680 and that ended up taking a big hit. MGM took 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:26.640 a big hit from that. That same year two five 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:30.199 that is, Comcast unveiled at digital phone service and plans 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:34.000 to purchase internet businesses, further getting involved in both the 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.399 delivery and production of cable content both on TV and 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:40.480 on the Internet. So if you have ever looked at 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:45.199 Comcast Exfinity, which is the brand for their digital service 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.399 to homes, you often will see that it can be 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:54.000 bundled where you get phone service, cable television, and Internet 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:59.520 broadband all bundled together. That's, you know, a calculated approach 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:03.360 that com guests made back in this time. In two 0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:09.080 thousand seven, that's when Comcast actually acquired Fandango, the movie 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:14.240 ticket service, the one that kind of precipitated this whole 0:25:14.240 --> 0:25:17.359 discussion about Comcast in the first place, because if you 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.960 recall from episode one of this series, I mentioned that 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:25.160 I started looking into this after I had problems buying 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:29.320 Star Wars tickets because the Fandango service had been overwhelmed 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:32.520 by demand and it pretty much collapsed. By the way, 0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:34.880 in case you were worried, I did eventually get Star 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:37.200 Wars tickets for opening night. I just had to wait 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:41.119 till the next morning. It's just I am not a 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:44.400 good Jedi. I don't have patience, So it was a tough, 0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:48.840 tough twenty four hours or so. At any rate, Comcast 0:25:48.880 --> 0:25:53.200 purchased Fandango back in two thousand and seven, and uh, 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:58.959 Fandango is one of those services that I personally find 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:04.280 a little rustrating. I much prefer when movie theaters have 0:26:04.480 --> 0:26:10.520